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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1968.103
Title
Pendant
Other Titles
Former Title: Hollow Pendant in Form of Fruit
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
pendant
Date
5th-4th century BCE
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period
Archaic period to Hellenistic
Culture
Greek
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/304130

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Brass
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
5 x 2.5 cm (1 15/16 x 1 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Tracer
Alloy: Brass
Alloying Elements: copper, zinc
Other Elements: tin, lead, iron, nickel, arsenic
K. Eremin, January 2014

Technical Observations: The patina is green and black with some metallic brown visible. The hollow pendant was made in two halves, which were each probably made by lost-wax casting with the design done in the model before casting. The seam joining the two halves, which have slightly separated, shows a somewhat different color corrosion.


Carol Snow (submitted 2002)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Richard R. Wagner, gift; to the Fogg Museum, 1968.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Richard R. Wagner
Accession Year
1968
Object Number
1968.103
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
This hollow pendant has a two-part construction, as revealed by the seam splitting the top. Shaped like a stylized bud, the pendant is decorated on its surface with a regular pattern of raised lines that suggest closed petals (1).

Gold pendants of similar form are found in Greece and are dated to the fifth to fourth centuries BCE, but these examples are smaller in size, typically measuring 0.75 to 2.7 cm in length (2). This pendant, made of bronze and significantly larger, could not have been used in the delicate necklaces and bracelets from which gold examples derive. Perhaps it formed part of a larger object, such as a horse trapping, or appeared as the main element of a less elaborate and less valuable necklace.

NOTES:

1. Regarding flower bud motifs—often referred to as “seeds”—in ancient Greek jewelry, see D. Williams and J. Ogden, Greek Gold: Jewelry of the Classical World, exh. cat., British Museum; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1994) 42-43.

2. Compare ibid., nos. 76, 94, 135, 177, and 179-80; J. Ogden, Jewellery of the Ancient World (London, 1982) 138-39, fig. 28; and H. Tait, Seven Thousand Years of Jewellery (London, 1986) 63-64, figs. 134-36.


Jennifer Floyd

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu